David M. McDonnell September 20, 1952 - October 15, 2012

I was saddened to learn today that David McDonnell aka David Mac passed away on October 15th after a battle with cancer. To say David was enthusiastic about the Streamers 365 project was an understatement, he was a driving force behind its success in the early days. He was instrumental in getting the word out about the project through his social media channels and on several fishing and tying forums. I had only known David for a short time, but he made a big impact in my life. He had that effect on people. He was diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of the year after living with some terrible pain that left him unable to tie. We consider ourselves blessed to be able to include a selection of 17 of his streamers, from his repertoire of hundreds, in the collection. He will be missed, but also remembered as a dear friend and fellow tyer of long flies.

Please take a moment to look through his streamers included in the collection.



David's Streamers

		#171 William Dawes - David Mac
#210 Bittersweet - David Mac	#232 Yellow A. J. Randall - David Mac	#257 Janine Marie - David Mac
#287 Niece #1 - David Mac

David's Biography

David has been tying flies since 1964 and as it does many tyers addicted to the vise, brought him countless hours of enjoyment. As a young guest at the United Fly Tyers meetings in Boston, MA, David was introduced to streamers by many of the great tyers of the day. In the 1970's he spent a decade providing streamers to many of the finest Maine fly shops and camps.

Every year for the past 40 years, David has been tying streamers for a very loyal group of clients from all over the world. Now their children and grandchildren are his clients and each year he always adds one or two specially commissioned streamers for each. None of these special one-of-a-kind streamers were ever published or sold to shops.

David's health has kept him away from fly fishing...all those big fish catches are not good for his heart. As expected, he dearly misses his time on the water, but has keep waist deep in fly fishing by taking part in the online forums, and reading about the adventures on the waters, shared by friends. It reminds him of not what he is missing, but what he has enjoyed.

David has consolidated his fly tying to mostly Rangeley Streamers and tandems, because, he states, "I love them". It is also an attempt to keep his personal hook and material purchases down to just the necessary ones. He is grateful and fortunate that the Internet has brought with it, hundreds of new fly tying friends that communicate weekly and sometimes daily.

David began a small Natural Fly tying Materials business in 2011, something he looks forward to retiring with. His website has been up for several months now: http://www.Tiethefly.com and offers some unique furs and feathers you will find difficult to locate elsewhere including some wonderful materials for streamers. You can always find David hanging out at the forum for Fly Tyer Magazine where he is a welcome voice of encouragement as his position of Moderator.